Islamic State claims Tunisia attack that killed 23

Updated 9:16 pm, Thursday, March 19, 2015

A Tunisian woman holds a placard reading: “No to Terrorism” a day after an attack on the Bardo museum killed scores of people, including 20 tourists.

A Tunisian woman holds a placard reading: “No to Terrorism” a day after an attack on the Bardo museum killed scores of people, including 20 tourists.

Photo: Christophe Ena / Associated Press

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A man a set up a candle on a bloodstain during a demonstration in front of the National Bardo Museum a day after gunmen attacked the museum in Tunis, Tunisia, Thursday, March 19, 2015. The Islamic State group issued a statement Thursday claiming responsibility for the deadly attack on Tunisia's national museum that killed scores of people, mostly tourists. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) less

A man a set up a candle on a bloodstain during a demonstration in front of the National Bardo Museum a day after gunmen attacked the museum in Tunis, Tunisia, Thursday, March 19, 2015. The Islamic State group ... more

Photo: Christophe Ena / Associated Press

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A policeman guard the entrance of the Bardo museum in Tunis, Tunisia, Thursday, March 19, 2015, as a a blood stain is seen at right, a day after gunmen opened fire killing over 20 people, mainly tourists. One of the two gunmen who killed tourists and others at a prominent Tunisian museum was known to intelligence services, Tunisia's prime minister said Thursday. But no formal links to a particular terrorist group have been established in an attack that threatens the country's fledgling democracy and struggling tourism industry. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) less

A policeman guard the entrance of the Bardo museum in Tunis, Tunisia, Thursday, March 19, 2015, as a a blood stain is seen at right, a day after gunmen opened fire killing over 20 people, mainly tourists. One ... more

Photo: Christophe Ena / Associated Press

Islamic State claims Tunisia attack that killed 23

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TUNIS, Tunisia — The radical Islamic State group claimed responsibility Thursday for the attack on a famed Tunis museum that left 23 people dead and scores of tourists wounded, and upended the country’s struggling tourism industry.

Defying the extremists, hundreds of Tunisians rallied Thursday at the National Bardo Museum, the site of the attack, stepping around trails of blood and broken glass to proclaim their solidarity with the victims and with Tunisia’s fledgling democracy. One person carried a sign saying “Tunisia is bloodied but still standing.”

Tunisian security forces arrested nine people, five with alleged direct connections to Wednesday’s attack by two gunmen who were later slain by police, the president’s office said. The other four suspects arrested in the central part of the country were part of a cell supporting those involved in the attack, the statement said.

Prime Minister Habib Essid told France’s RTL radio that Tunisia was working with other countries to learn more about the slain attackers, identified as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. He said Laabidi had been flagged to the intelligence agency, although not for “anything special.”

The attack was the worst at a tourist site in Tunisia in more than a decade and prompted a leading Italian cruise ship line to cancel all stops in the North African nation indefinitely.

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The deaths of so many tourists will create massive trouble for Tunisia’s tourism industry, which attracts thousands of foreigners every year to the country’s Mediterranean beaches, desert oases and ancient Roman ruins. Two major cruise ships whose passengers were among the victims quickly left the port of Tunis early Thursday.

The Health Ministry said the death toll in the attack rose Thursday to 23 people, including 20 foreign tourists, with almost 50 people wounded. Three Tunisians were killed, including two attackers. All the injuries came from bullet wounds.

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